Records posted by: Leilasadia

Algerian Coffee Stores

Built in 1887, Algerian Coffee Stores is one of London's oldest existing Cafes. Opened by Algerian Muslim, Mr Hassan, this...

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud was the ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I and was responsible for establishing trade...

Fatima Manji

Fatima Manji is a British television journalist and newsreader who became Britain's first hijab-wearing TV newsreader in March 2016. Her...

Ebrahim college

Ebrahim College was established in 2003 as a Darul Uloom style seminary appropriate for the modern world. The aim was...

CIRE

CIRE is a London-based research centre dedicated to research that will inform Islamic thought, Islamic sciences and Islamic education. It...

Al Salam Institute

Al-Salam Institute was established in Oxford (UK) in 2006 in order to provide students and working professionals with the opportunity...

IMASJID LIVE

iMasjid Live is an online streaming platform for Masaajids and Islamic radio stations. iMasjid Live has been built to provide...

Akbar The Great

Akbar the Great was the third and most powerful Mughal Emperor of India, ruling from 1556 to 1605. Queen Elizabeth...

Aura Sultana

Aura Sultana was a young Central Asian Slave girl of Tatar origin. She had been purchased by English explorer, Anthony...

Francis Levett

This portrait depicts Francis Levett a "Turkey Merchant", (Member of the Levant Company) of the city of London. In partnership...

Abdul Qayyum Sher

Abdul Qayyum Sher was born in Kohat in 1921. This city is now in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan,...

Colonel Mohammad Ghani

Colonel Mohammad Ghani joined the British Indian Army in 1940. He was in a Punjab Regiment and after finishing his...

Abraham Abraham Sarah Sarah

A Tate Modern Exhibition exploring the Israel/Palestine conflict.ABRAHAM ABRAHAM SARAH SARAH was filmed in subterranean chambers in Al-Khalil, or Hebron,...

5 Pillars

'Quiz Show: Increase your knowledge of Islam while having loads of fun with your family and friends. Conquer all pillars...

1600

'True Faith and Mahomet' Embroidery

Posted in:

Art & Culture

Author:

Leilasadia

Commissioned by Bess of Hardwick, the sixteenth-century, 'True Faith and Mahomet' embroidery reflects both the friendly trading relationship between Elizabeth I and The Ottoman Empire and the fear of many Christians being 'turned Turk' (Converted to Islam).

This hanging is one of three, commissioned by Bess and made by her household staff. They depict the theological virtues - faith, hope, and temperance - and their opposing vices. They are linked to hangings of the cardinal virtues - justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance - now displayed on the Chapel Landing at Hardwick.

The tradition of personifying moral qualities stretches back to Ancient Greece and Rome. After the Reformation, the saints that featured in medieval images were replaced by Old Testament or classical figures. Bess's theological virtues are unusual in looking like elite Elizabethan women: Temperance looks suspiciously like Bess, and Faith bears a striking resemblance to Elizabeth I. Only a fragment of Hope and Judas remains.

In the middle ages, Faith was contrasted with idolatry or with the Egyptian priest and arch-heretic Arius. By the Renaissance, the military might of the Ottoman Empire meant that Islam was seen as the greatest threat to the Christian faith. Rumours and stereotypes about Islam and the East circulated widely. 

Tags

Sources and Attribution

Virtue and Vice - Conversion Narratives, University of York

Fatima Manji, Hidden Heritage, Rediscovering Britain's Lost Love of the Orient,2022

Spotted an issue Report this record

Loading please wait